Örebro Syrianska

Ground: Mellringe Idrottsplats

Visits: 1

Date: 10th July 2021

Match: Örebro Syrianska - Assyriska 4-3 (Ettan Norra)

Attendance: 600

Örebro Syrianska was founded in 1977 and is actually the oldest Syriac club in Sweden. In 2019 the club managed to win Division 2 Norra Götaland and was, for the first time ever, promoted to Division 1 Norra (level 3). In recent years the club has played at Örnsro IP but in time for the 2021 season the club has moved to a new ground, Mellringe IP. The ground has a small stand with around 100 seats, an artificial pitch and no running tracks and is situated in the northwestern outskirts of Örebro. . Örebro is around 500 km from where I live but every year I visit friends of mine who live outside of Eskilstuna. This summer I looked at possible dates for the visit and when I noticed Örebro Syrianska were hosting Assyriska FF 10 July I asked my friends if I could visit that weekend. I was given the green light and on Friday I made the drive to my friends´ house. From their house it was then only an hour by car to reach Örebro. As far as I know Örebro Syrianska have never played Assyriska FF in a league match and the game this afternoon is by far the biggest of the season för Örebro Syrianska. Kick-off was at 16.00 and 75 minutes or so I parked my car outside Mellringe IP. At this match I met up with fellow groundhoppers Daniel and Romina and it was the actually first time since June 2019 we had seen each other. We were among the first to arrive and that gave us the chance to find seats in the only stand. At the moment the maximum allowed capacity is 600 and for this match that number would be reached. As the players entered the field pyros and smoke were set off and it was a proper “big match” feeling around Mellringe IP.

Apart from having a big attendance this turned to be a very entertaining football match. At half-time it was 2-2 and some of the goals were really nice. In the second half Örebro Syrianska scored twice to make it 4-2. In stoppage time Assyriska made it 4-3 from the penalty spot and with nine (!) minutes added on they had time to find the equalizer. Örebro Syrianska held on though and as the final whistle was blown fans and players could celebrate a memorable win. It is not every day I see players set off pyros but that happened today. This is the kind of match and experience I have missed so much the last 18 months and I am looking forward to many afternoons like the one today. After the match it was pretty chaotic in the car park but I eventually got out. I dropped Daniel and Romina off at a bus stop before making the drive back to Eskilstuna. A great day was coming to an end!